Friday, September 30, 2011

Released to some consternation and confusion many years ago
by the DJ known as Shadow before he hit the global
headlines, Bombay the Hard Way: Guns, Cars and Sitars is the pre-weekend feature today.

DJ Shadow

Mixing it up with him is another passionately confused man Dan ‘The Automator’ Nakamura of San
Francisco, California.

Bollywood music was loved by hundreds of millions Indians,
Arabs, Cambodians, Africans and Russians but never registered on the radars of
the guys who controlled the big markets.
A few adventurous types like David
Byrne of Talking Heads fame
trumpeted the kaleidoscope-y grooves to small nerdy audiences of music pinheads
in the early 90s. No one took notice.

Dan 'the Automator' Nakamura

But somewhere along the way the dam burst. Suddenly shops
and movies and books were full of the music I grew up with and picture of the
idols I fantastised about. Everyone
jumped on the Bollywood bandwagon. They even have Bollywood line dancing down
the streets of Melbourne these days!

But in that quiet moment just before the storm DJ Shadowand Automator put together this mix of Bombay action soundtrack
cuts with some masala of their own
from the bawarchikhana (kitchen) of
the electronic dance hall.

Chillout ambient music with a difference. Not to mention,
Amitabh’s golden chords chiming in like a god from the Himalayan heights.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Sticking to the theme of
better days of Afghanistan and its musical history, I was pleasantly surprised
to learn that in the late 1950s and early 60s, Kabul was a regular stop for
American musicians on their global tours.

Duke Ellington touches down in Kabul

The Meridian International
Center (about whose existence I was informed by an old dost, Hannah) has a wonderful site dedicated to documenting the
history (albeit cultural and positive aspects, not so much the recent more
ambivalent aspects) of American-Afghan relations. The Center’s basic premise
that “cultural exchanges and exhibitions serve as catalysts for
greater mutual understanding” is one I have no problem with and indeed endorse
wholeheartedly. As another follower of the Dog
said recently, "I've
decided that MUSIC is just about the only thing that can be a force for Good in
the world 'cause it's just about the only thing that can touch and move the
human heart."

Indeed.

Kuchi lady

Today’s
post features the West-coast jazz of the hugely popular (and not uncontroversial)
Dave Brubeck.His band visited Afghanistan in 1958 and soon
thereafter released an album called Jazz
Impressions of Eurasia. One of the tracks, Nomad was inspired by the Afghan kuchi nomads that tend the large herds of camels all across the
southern and eastern parts of the country.

Transcript of "Nomad"

The
album cover itself is a lot of fun. And historical. Not only is Pan Am such a
cipher for a certain, more certain age of American involvement in the world but
the goofy turban that Dave sports on his head is, I suppose, some art
director’s attempt to bottle the essence of ‘East’.

Now
all we can hope for is that one day soon such exchanges begin again. How about Bob Dylan in Badakhshan! Or JJ Cale visits Jalalabad. Or Mose Allison rocks Mazar-e-Sharif?!

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Music has had a rough
trot in Afghanistan in the recent past. Banned and hated by the Taliban,
cassette tapes and CDs were destroyed with the same sense of righteous
fanaticism during their years in power as books were burned by the Nazis in the
1930s.

But things are on the up at the moment. An Afghan-Aussie
recently went back to Kabul and with a grant from the World Bank set up the
Afghanistan National Institute of Music.
Ahmad Sarmast’s school is
open to boys and girls from the age of 10 years on and moves them through a 10
year course that delivers training in classical western and Afghan music.

Pop music including a version of Afghanistan Idol is popular
on TV and the radio. And there is renewed interest in the deep folk music
tradition of Afghanistan too. The music
of Afghanistan has a strong folk base that was heavily influenced and shaped by
classical Indian music when musicians from Punjab and Delhi came to Kabul to
seek the patronage of the Afghan royal family in the mid nineteenth century.

The Afghan Ensemble
is a group of musicians from Kabul, Kashmir, Iran and India who have come
together to try to be a voice, like Ahmad
Sarmast, for something other than bombs, hate, fanaticism and violence in
that ancient land.

Afghan Ensemble

Zohreh Jooya, an
Afghan-Iranian singer from Mashad is the ‘voice’ of the Ensemble. She was
trained in the Western classical vocal tradition in Europe as well as in the
classical music of Iran and Afghanistan. She has a Masters degree in music from
the Arts University of Vienna.

Ustad Hossein Arman studied
in Afghanistan and in Europe and like Zohreh
has an impressive musical CV. He was associated with Radio Kabul for years
but then fled the country like so many other millions of this countrymen.
Relocated in Switzerland he tours the world with the Ensemble committed to
preserving the musical heritage of his country.

Other members of the group are transplanted Indians who
share a passion for Afghan music. Tonight’s post is collection of folk
songs from around Kabul interpreted by
the Ensemble.

Though the songs are old and of the people they are treated
with elegance and professionalism. The classical training and high musicianship
of the group is impossible to miss.
Music of hope and a kind of resistance.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

The Neville Brothers
have been in the business of soothing souls, bringing hope, peace and danceable
grooves for about half a century. While
the Washerman’s Dog continues to
hibernate, a hefty chunk of their peace-bringing groovy music is just what the
doctor had in mind.

If you don’t know the Nevilles
its never too late to get on the bandwagon. If you love them then perhaps
you’ll enjoy this collection from a variety of places.

Play this music up load…even the soft ones. You’re going to
dance and cry.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Life is hectic sometimes. Now is one of those times. So the Washerman's Dog is going to curl up under the stairs and uncomplicate things for a few days. I leave you (temporarily) with some of my favourite songs about peace.

Will return shortly with some more exciting music from Pakistan, India, America, Africa, and perhaps even Antartica.

Monday, September 19, 2011

It was a glorious morning,
sunny and bright, today. The summer has
come suddenly to Australia. While that might portend terrible things in the
months to come for this driest of continents, for now the warm breeze blowing
through the apartment is wonderfully welcome.

And so to mark the
change of seasons let’s celebrate with an aptly named album by Shivkumar Sharma, The Glory of Dawn. Foremost,
and indeed, probably the only popularly renown santoor player, Shivkumar
Sharma is in fine form on this 1985 release. Ably, nay, mesmeringly,
accompanied by the great tabla maestro Zakir
Hussain.

Zakir Hussain and Shivkumar Sharma

The santoor is an
ancient Babylonian stringed musical instrument. It is a trapezoid-shaped hammered dulcimer often
made of walnut, with seventy strings. The special-shaped mallets (mezrab)
are lightweight and are held between the index and middle fingers. A typical santoor has two sets of bridges,
providing a range of three octaves.

The
Kashmiri santoor is more rectangular and can have more strings than the
Persian counterpart, which generally has 72 strings. The santoor as used in Kashmiri classical music is played with a pair
of curved mallets made of walnut wood and the resultant melodies are similar to
the music of the harp,
harpsichord, or piano. The
sound chamber is also made of walnut
wood and the bridges are made of local wood and painted dark like ebony. The
strings are made of steel. It is especially popular in the folk music tradition
of Kashmir. (Wikipedia)

Indeed
a glorious way to welcome the dawn (or anytime of day for that matter).

Sunday, September 18, 2011

A while back I posted a collection of the Edwin Hawkins Singers. In the write up I mentioned the Rev James Cleveland whose music I love
but would not promote.

Well, l I have thought a lot about that
position and while I’m still disgusted with the alleged high hypocrisy of the
‘good’ Reverend, I just can’t get away from the music he created.I’ve been resisting the temptation to promote
it for months but at last have given in.

Why the change of heart?

I guess I believe the music is so powerful
and beautiful that it stands on its own. Whatever the deep failings of its
creator this is music that deserves to be loved and listened to and absorbed by
as many people as possible.

James
Cleveland was an exasperating personality
throughout his life including right up to and after his death.He had a restless spirit that took him from one
singing group and church to another leaving colleagues and friends and sponsors
irritated and frustrated.He also had a
great ego and the thin skin to go with it. James
Cleveland considered himself to be simply the greatest composer and
arranger of modern gospel music. When others got recognition or when record
companies dropped him or when he was challenged, he sulked.

Rev. James Cleveland

Born and raised in Chicago in 1931, James
Cleveland grew up in a family of modest income. His family attended Pilgrim
Baptist Church where the Father of Gospel Music, Thomas Dorsey, was a minister.He loved the piano but his family was unable to buy one, so little James
pretended his windowsill was one. “I used to practice each night right there on the windowsill. I took those wedges
and crevices and made me black and white keys. And, baby, by the time I was in
high school, I was some jazz pianist."

After
high school he began his stop and start journey with a whole series of gospel
groups, sometimes as a singer, sometimes as composer/arranger. Though he caused
waves and earned a reputation as unreliable and tempermental he was already
adding funk and deep soul and groove to the gospel style. His reputation grew
and in 1960 his position as the absolute King of Gospel was sealed when his
record Peace Be Still sold 800,000
copies to almost an exclusively African American audience.This was at a time when a gospel record that
sold 5000 copies was considered a big hit!

After
this success he branched out on his own forming the Cleveland Singers out of which came a couple of rather illustrious
singers: Aretha Franklin and Billy Preston! Generally, the Rev. James Cleveland is considered the
most important figure in modern gospel music after Mahalia Jackson and during his career he made a huge number or
recordings.

Tonight’s
selection is a South African edition of a record called the King of
Gospel.Blessedly, it includes several
extra tracks (including a cover of Elvis
Presley’s In the Ghetto) not on
the American release. So without further ado, the shiveringly good music of the Rev. James Cleveland.